It has always been a mystery to me why millions of people are not moving to Wyoming. For decades, I have expected our borders to be pounded by the influx of all these people who finally saw the light, packed up their belongings, kissed their hometowns good-bye and headed to the Promised Land. Our promised land.

         A vast majority of my Wyoming friends would exclaim that they are really (I mean, really!) happy that this invasion of newcomers has not happened.

         As the least populated state in the country, Wyoming holds a unique status, a sort of a special cache’ – almost like it is a secret that only those of us who are already here know about.

         Oh Wyoming, what a paradise we must seem to be to those poor uninformed souls out there enduring the horrible life that living in a blue state can portend! 

         We are the land of the free. We are home on the range. We are the Code of the West. We are full of individuals.

         Flee the hive. Cast away the chains of over-population and come to a place where just you and five other people occupy each square mile of space.

         Again, not sure my friends would approve if I issued an invitation to bright, articulate and well-intentioned folks from other parts of the country (or the world?) to pack up and come west. Way out west -out here in flyover country.

         Why aren’t they coming? 

         Where are the hordes?

         I feel like a lonely sentry assigned to a border post watching for advancing armies of invaders, only instead of repelling them, my job would be to welcome them.

         Well, here I am? But where are they?

         The fact that millions of outsiders are not rushing into Wyoming actually makes me happy. I want that perfectly understood. It just amazes me to be so wrong about such a conclusion. Wyoming is my favorite place in the USA.

         We have the best scenery. We have the lowest taxes. Great roads. Wonderful small cities and towns. Nice people. Our folks are getting a little long of tooth, but then again, when you live such a good life, maybe you tend to live a little longer. Maybe it just seems longer.

We really do have our own set of universal truths and fundamental values. Some good folks tried to quantify this as the Code of the West. These are the types of necessary rules that a lonely people develop when their population is so thin, it makes sense to self-govern. Much like the Golden Rule, it means that you look out for your fellow man when there are so few of you scattered around such a big place.

         And 98,000 square miles is a really, really big place. Our new population estimate of 576,000 people means we now have less than six people per square mile in Wyoming.

         Perhaps here is another big surprise: Wyoming is the fastest growing state in the 21^st century. The Cowboy State, percentage-wide, added more population than any other state according to the 2010 census and recently revealed it continues to grow at an amazing rate – adding 15,000 more people since 2010. Yippee, I guess.

         Maybe the hordes are coming and I have been oblivious. I have been busy keeping my head down and producing a book extolling the beauty of our state. The only serious criticism of this project has been a fear on the part that it will cause even more people to move here.

         I tend to be partial to my hometown of Lander, which sits nestled in a pretty valley underneath towering mountains. The lack of wind makes it unique in Wyoming but it is the people that really make it special.

         Lately, my book promotion travels have been taken me to places like Rock Springs, Riverton, Laramie, Cheyenne, Douglas, Thermopolis, Casper and Cody. I met with lots of people in those towns and you know what? They are just as nice as the folks back in Lander.

         Our state is full of wonderful people who are knowledgeable and friendly. People who, although offering individualist styles, still exude Wyoming Cowboy Ethics.

         Thus, it now occurs to me that we probably should not issue a blanket invitation to folks to come to Wyoming. Maybe we should make them pass a test before entering here?

         Most of all, Wyoming is a haven for genuine, hard-working friendly people. If you are a nice person, then you can come in. Otherwise, please stay away.

         For a state whose destiny is linked to energy prices, the year 2012 in Wyoming was turbulent.  

         Looking back on the past 12 months, the biggest news story affecting the most people in Wyoming is the fall of energy prices, which resulted in steep declines in tax revenue.

This might be an exaggeration since I am assuming that the world did not end on Dec. 21. You are hopefully alive and really reading this column. We are assuming the Mayans were wrong.

         Next week, I intend to write my annual column about looking ahead in 2013. But this one deals with a look back.

         Here are some points:

         • Wyoming folks won some nice recognition in 2012. Never had a year like this.

         Daniel Junge of Cheyenne won an Oscar for the documentary for Saving Face. Not only a well-deserved honor for good movie-making but a wonderful way to help prevent future acid attacks on women in Arab countries.

         Lander’s youthful Ian Lee won an Emmy for his CNN work covering the Arab Spring. I have known this brave young man his entire life. He is still there in the thick of it. Be safe, Ian.

         And Craig Johnson of Ucross has been riding high on the success of the new TV series Longmire based on a mythical Sheriff in Absaroka County in Wyoming (sort of between Buffalo and Sheridan).

         I have long contended a lonely state like Wyoming can produce rare individuals with extraordinary talent because our sparse population promotes individualism. These three guys prove that.

         • For about three weeks my new book was the best-selling Wyoming-oriented product in the state this Christmas season.

         Then Wyoming Whiskey sold 88,000 bottles of its new bourbon! Wow, was this an event or what? Some 3,000 people showed up in little Kirby Dec. 1 for the unveiling (or sipping?).

         Good job, folks.

         I think it tastes like a single malt Scotch, by the way. Which suits me just fine since I am Scotch drinker, when I drink.

         • We had a national election where the country reelected a liberal Democrat.

         But Republicans should not despair. If the GOP runs someone like Marco Rubio next time, this whole landscape will change. Outside of Utah, Wyoming was the most Republican state in the union.

         • So, back to energy. We remain the country’s largest coal producer and soon, the main market for our coal will be overseas.

         China, India and other Asian countries are burning more coal, *and there is no end to their appetite for cheap energy.

         Wyoming produces the second most natural gas of any state in the USA, which used to be a good thing. But because so much natural gas has now been found, prices have plummeted which has caused a big decrease in severance tax revenues. Gov. Matt Mead’s way of dealing with this is imposing cuts in state spending.

• Global warming, while apparently raising havoc with droughts in Texas and a Superstorm in the NE parts of the USA, has resulted in balmy October, November and December weather here.

         Lord help us next summer if we do not get some serious snowfall in our forests, though.

         • As Christmas approaches and the end of the year arrives (and hopefully, not the end of the world), the people of America are confronted with the worst school shooting possible.

         How could someone kill little first grade kids? 

         • One of the more inspiring stories from 2012 was what KT Roes did to raise money to fight cancer up in Cody. She had been undergoing chemo and had lost her hair.

         To raise money during the Oct. 19 Cody Medical Foundation fundraiser, she did something both brave and zany.

          As the always-articulate Dewey Vanderhoff described it: “The effervescent unorthodox KT turned her recent consequences with chemotherapy into a big plus. For the mere sum of $100, you could autograph her hairless head. Now that’s the power of positive thinking!” Photos showed her head covered with signatures. She called it her “cancer cranium.” Wow.

         • And finally, we will miss some folks who died in 2012.

         The late State Treasurer Joe Meyer was a gentleman who was always a friend. He actually nit-picked this column each week for me prior to publication and always offered wonderful insights.

         Happy Trails, old friend. Wyoming was a better place for you having been here. We go forward feeling somewhat lonely without your fine counsel.

         Cody native Shelley Simonton, while volunteering as a Salvation Army bell ringer, makes this observation: “Those who appear to have the least, ALWAYS find spare change or a shaggy dollar to put in the bucket.”

         Her Facebook post caught my attention as I was doing research for my annual column about “the perfect Wyoming Christmas gift.”

         It sometimes takes a lot of years before people truly learn that “giving” makes you feel a lot better than “receiving.”

         An example: for the past two decades-plus, my wife Nancy has headed up the local Christmas Food Basket drive. What a pleasure it is to be involved in a project where more than 300 huge baskets are distributed. But amid the good feelings of rounding up food and toys (plus raising the money to pay for it), is the grim reality that so many families would have a very empty Christmas without this program.

         Lots of folks make generous donations in the name of passed on relatives. Whole families get involved in stuffing the baskets and the local Elks Club often features teams of three generations of folks delivering the baskets.

         There are charities like this all over Wyoming at Christmas and what a wonderful gesture it is to make “giving” to those less fortunate than us, our main focus.

         And one final thought on this . . . often, our most important gift is our time. Spending time with folks who are going through a tough spell and listening to them (I mean, really listening to them), sometimes is the best gift of all.

         A person in distress can be really needy at Christmas and not need any financial gifts just friendship and compassion.

         However, this column also deals with the commercial side of Christmas. So here are some ideas from my friends of what might make great gifts this holiday:

         New books by Wyoming-oriented authors include Stephen Horn of Cheyenne (Another Man’s Life) or long-time AP writer Joe McGowan’s life story (From Fidel Castro to Mother Theresa).         Anything by Craig Johnson, C. J. Box, Candy Moulton or Cat Urbigkit would be fantastic, too. Sue Casteneda’s new book on the Hitching Post is great, too.

         Probably ought to plug Wyoming’s 7 Greatest Natural Wonders, which has already sold 4,000 copies this season, both retail and wholesale. Might suggest shoppers buy individual photo prints from the champion photographers featured in that book.

         We will be signing books Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. at the WTE in Cheyenne.

         Karl Brauneis says: “ . . . a couple books I have read over the last year that are a must: Bob Fudge - Texas Trail Driver / Montana - Wyoming Cowboy / 1862-1933 by Jim Russell of Buffalo. The book is available in its 4th printing. “Also, if you can get a copy through a used book store or the Internet, read; First White Woman in the Bighorn Basin by Paul Freson.

Dave Langerman reminds me to mention his outdoor survivor book called Life In The Wild versus the Alternative (lots of good hints that could save your life). UW Prof Phil Roberts says copies of the sixth edition of the invaluable Wyoming Almanac, produced by him and his two brothers are limited but still available.

And finally, my family says I am impossible to buy for. Thus, I am including some tips for last minute shopping for Wyoming men, compiled by my friend, Aggie Smith. These suggestions sound suspiciously like a Dave Barry column, though, she contends it was anonymously sent to her through the Internet:

• The best gift of all is a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. As a Wyoming man, you can never have too many drills.

• You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of money buy your man a big-screen TV with the little picture in the corner. Watch him go wild as he flips, and flips, and flips.

• Buy men label makers. Almost as good as drills. Within a couple of weeks there will be labels everywhere. "Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink."

• Men enjoy danger. That`s why they never cook - but they will barbecue. Get him a monster barbecue with a 100-pound propane tank. Tell him the gas line leaks. "Oh the thrill! The challenge!”

So there you have it, Aggie’s rules for buying gifts for Wyoming men. Have a wonderful Merry Christmas, everyone

         Out here in Wyoming, we want to believe that CO2 from our coal is not causing global warming. And we are pretty much in denial about this whole climate change argument.

         But there is some evidence . . .

         Instead of dealing with devastation like Superstorm Sandy, these weather trends are causing us to be basking in Indian-summer weather during October and November. Most of us who have lived here awhile know that November is always a bitter-cold, windy, gray, snowy month. October, about every other year, is an early duplicate of November.

         Not last year. And not this year either.

         This was the year when those of us who stayed home are teasing our snowbird friends who headed south. About 18 days ago, my thermometer read 71 degrees here in Lander. That, incredibly, was during the Thanksgiving holiday.

         Yes, it makes sense to worry about climate change and to stew over worldwide ramifications of global warming.

But in the meantime most of us are guiltily appreciating this balmy weather during what used to be a bitter cold time.

         In the big picture, there appears to be not so much that can be done here locally to stop worldwide emissions when in China and India a new coal-fired plant is coming online every three weeks.

         The world is warming up and it is scary. I wish there was a way we could easily stop it. But in the meantime, folks who live in normally cold climes are enjoying this warm weather.

         This last presidential election saw the arrival of a new kind of TV ad that was ubiquitous and continues to be airing. It is the “I am an energy voter” ad where folks tout the importance of energy jobs, especially coal.

         There is no doubt President Barack Obama is at war with the coal industry. He believes in global warming and sees CO2 emissions from coal-fired plants as the chief culprit.

         The folks putting airing those TV ads are adamant about their cause. “President Obama has placed a de facto embargo on energy production on American lands,” said a spokesman for the American Energy Alliance in the New York Times about their $7 million TV ad budget.      

But then again, Obama won the election. And coal-producing states are facing the consequences.

So where can Wyoming coal producers sell their product?

         Folks over the years have expressed displeasure over the seemingly cavalier way railroads can haul coal out of Wyoming without much state oversight.

         But those same rules might be the key to Wyoming being able to export its coal to the world.

         Obama’s administration is effectively killing the U. S. coal-powered power plant market. For Wyoming’s vast coal mines to have a place to sell their coal, they need the railroads to be able to ship coal to Pacific ports.

         Environmentalists in Oregon and Washington are fighting against the railroads. But they are running into the same old interstate commerce laws written decades ago that allow railroads to move goods quite easily, thank you. And to hell with state laws and regulations.

         If you want to know the future of Wyoming’s coal industry, just look west. A long ways west.

         Three other weather-related thoughts:

         • The top guy at the new NCAR weather super computer in Cheyenne mentioned that northern Europe could be almost desert-like by the end of the 21^st century, according to long-range projections. This is again part of the climate change theory. He talked at the annual Wyoming Business Alliance forum.

         • My friend Dewey Vanderhoff of Cody is one of those folks who knows a lot about a lot of things. He has a theory about the Bighorn Medicine Wheel east of Lovell in the Big Horn Mountains.

         He says after the ice age ended 10,000 years ago, the world heated up immensely and it was probably “balmy” up there at 9,000 feet where the famous circle of rocks is located. Thus, folks may have been living there year-around, rather than down in the super-scorched valleys where we all live today. 

         • And finally one of the most-viewed documentary movies being seen this year is Chasing Ice, which consists of images of some 34-time lapse cameras showing the disappearance of glaciers around the world.

         Now that would be a scary thing to watch.

         The filmmaker was quoted as saying on National Public Radio that by 2030, the new name of a big park north of us might be “Formerly Glacier National Park.”

Those of us who have lived in Wyoming for a while know that many mysterious wonders cover our state.

         During my recent book research, the most amazing “wonder” that appeared is one of the largest natural rock arches in the world.

         This amazing edifice is hidden high in the mountains west of Cody. Photographer Dewey Vanderhoff sent me photos and a story about this amazing place.

         Then there was a heretofore-unknown medicine wheel, which was another high point of my 2012 journey of discovery in learning about the wonders of the Cowboy State.

         The big arch is known officially as the Blackwater Natural Bridge. Vanderhoff calls it the Throne of the Mountain Eagle since the gap under the arch is in the unbelievable shape of an eagle’s head with a snake in its beak.

Vanderhoff writes: “I have had the good fortune to photograph this amazing wonder many times since the early 1970s. It has been a lifelong source of aspiration.”

He includes a photo of a young woman in the foreground looking at the arch. Vanderhoff continues:

“The photo shows Deb Hayber during an October day ride.  She sojourns on the next ridge over from the volcanic window rock gazing on what is almost certainly one of the five largest natural arch formations in the world.

“She is nearly a mile away from the arch in this scene, across from one another at 11,000 feet deep in the Washakie Wilderness of the Shoshone National Forest.

“What is the size of the Blackwater Natural Bridge? The question begs, since it has never officially been surveyed or measured.

“Another photo shows the sun in early September passing behind the arch from 4.23 miles  (22,440 feet) away and 4,000 feet below, according to Google Earth. Given that the angular diameter of the Sun is 0.53 degrees and the arch is skewed away at an angle of about 42~45 degrees in this aspect, some basic trigonometry says the arch spans 285 feet wide with a thickness of ~ 40 feet. The aperture is about 250 feet tall.”

Vanderhoff points out the formation is unique among all the world’s large arches because of high elevation and its composition of volcanic rock, not sandstone or limestone. “Technical climbing skills would be required to measure the arch directly,” he concludes. “The volcanic rock is also very rotten.”

Someday I would like to see this arch, but it might be from an airplane. According to Vanderhoff, it is tough slog by foot or horseback.

Dewey has also had some interesting medicine wheel experiences, which brings me to my second subject.

During my visits to places around the high plains of Wyoming, my guide Jim Smail of Lander showed me what he thinks is one of the biggest medicine wheels in the world.

As most folks know, “America’s Stonehenge” is the Bighorn Medicine Wheel high in the mountains above Lovell.

That wheel is of unknown origin with some folks thinking it pre-dates the modern Indian tribes that have roamed Wyoming and Montana in the last few centuries.

It sits on top of a mountain ridge at 9,300 feet with wondrous views in all directions. It was not hard to be emotionally affected by the loneliness and grandeur of this old, old place of worship.

My friend Jim was guiding me around the prairie looking for photo opportunities when he mentioned a larger and unpublicized medicine wheel he had discovered some years ago. I asked him to show it to me.

If what he showed me really is a medicine wheel, it is gigantic. It may be the mother of all medicine wheels.

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is 80 feet in diameter. This one is over 260 feet across. It is almost the length of football field from one cairn (pile) of rocks to the other side.

There are clearly marked cairns of rocks around the circle plus one in the middle.

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel has cairns that mark the summer solstice dawn and sunset plus the rise of the bright stars Aldebaran and Sirius.

Recently, Jim went out and put posts with flags in every cairn to more clearly mark them. That night he had a nightmare about the wheel and became somewhat superstitious about it.

The next day, Jim removed the flags and made me promise to keep its location a secret.